Massachusetts Postal Worker Sentenced for Failing to Deliver Mail

BOSTON – A former Fitchburg postal employee was sentenced today in federal court in Worcester for failing to deliver mail.

Stephen Lehto, 37, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge David H. Hennessy to two years of probation. In January 2018, Lehto pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of obstruction of mails.

While working as a postal carrier for the United States Postal Service in Fitchburg between June 2016 and January 2017, Lehto began taking mail home instead of delivering it along his route. Law enforcement received a tip and interviewed Lehto at his home. A search of his vehicle resulted in the recovery of 758 pieces of mail, 341 pieces of which were first class pieces of mail.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling and Eileen Neff, Special Agent in Charge of the Northeast Area Field Office, United States Postal Service Office of Inspector, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle L. Dineen Jerrett of Lelling’s Worcester Branch Office prosecuted the case.